Strong Shoulders
by earthbender068
Summary: Sakura finds herself all alone at a concert for her fave band. Til she feels a pair of hands around her waist. One shot.


This one shot came to me as I was standing around the arena lastFriday waiting for Breaking Benjamin to begin playing. I hope you enjoy.

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Sakura stood in the middle of the concert arena waiting for the show to begin. The excitement of seeing her favorite band with her best friend was starting to kick in fully. The opening group was decent, and she made a mental note to look them up later to hear more of their songs. Sakura was even starting to get okay with the idea that Ino brought her boyfriend with her once their other friend; Tenten had to back out of the evening. A broken leg pretty much made the athlete bed ridden. Sakura could not help but feel sorry for her active friend.

Since Sakura's family had moved across town, Sakura hardly saw her two best friends. Ino and Tenten were busy with cheerleading and sports, while Sakura was usually found in the biology lab. At Sakura's old school, she was popular by default. Ino was a blonde, blue eyed, cheerleader, an alpha girl. She dated the quarterback and was by the rules of high school _the_ most popular girl.

Tenten was captain of the volleyball, basketball, and tennis teams. The brunette was also on the soccer and swim teams. Because of that, she had great body, but her personality was always warm and welcoming. It was a given that she would be 'the girl next door,' that everyone seemed to like.

Sakura on the other hand was a total bookworm. Ino often joked calling Sakura her project. The seventeen year old's pink hair was past her shoulders, and pulled back, leaving two pieces hanging down framing her face. The hair often fell into her green eyes as she read. Sakura was known as the science nerd or geek, which ever was convenient. It never bothered her though. She took pride in making good grades. She was way to self conscious to cheer like Ino, but also way to uncoordinated to play sports like Tenten. She liked her spot within the trio.

The girls had lived in the same street, and shared a love of the same programs, books, and music. This led them to the concert they were supposed to attend. Ino and Tenten had drifted away from rock music toward hip-hop once Sakura left, but they were happy to agree to go to the concert, then a sleep over at Ino's afterward. That _was_ the plan, until Tenten broke her leg in a soccer game, and was on strict bed rest for two weeks. Ino then took it upon herself to invite her boyfriend, Takeyo. Sakura would have rather sold the last ticket or paid Tenten for it. Instead, she was stuck watching the pair hold hands, make out, and just generally make her sick. She wasn't sure if the irritation or jealousy.

Sakura had never had a boyfriend. Now at seventeen, she noticed couples everywhere. Even here at a rock concert. The first band played it's lone love song, and all around couples began holding hands. There was a boy she liked,but she never had the nerve to even look at him longer than thirty seconds without blushing.

"Sakura, wait here. We're going to check out the t-shirt stand." Ino said. Before Sakura could protest, Ino dragged away Takeyo.

A large frustrated sigh escaped Sakura's chest. There she stood looking like a complete loser in a sea of people that were milling around waiting for the second band, Suna,to begin. Scanning the crowd, she noticed two boys from her new school. She knew them instantly, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. They were among the popular crowd. Both played sports. Kiba always had one or two girls following him, and Sakura couldn't blame them. He was cute, with an intoxicating smile. Sakura had been guilty of staring at him once or twice when she first moved to the school.

Shino was also cute. He was tall and built slightly larger than Kiba. He was also smart and very quiet. The difference between Sakura's silence and Shino's silence was confidence. Sakura was still nervous among her new classmates. Shino was quite confident in the words he spoke, even down to his walk. Sakura wondered if his bushy hair was as soft as it looked. Kiba was cute, but there was something about Shino's way of thinking when he answered questions in class. Once she noticed he was even reading the last book of the vampire series she had just finished. Shino fascinated her.

When Sakura was camping out in line for tickets, she also noticed Kiba and Shino there. It surprised her to see the two in line for tickets. Most of their crowd listened to pop or hip-hop. Just like then Sakura dropped her head and turned embarrassed. Never would she dare to speak to the two. They never talked to her in school, and she did not want get embarrassed by having them ignore her.

The crowd began to grow larger. The roadies were finishing the stage, and Suna was going to take the staged soon. Sakura placed her hands in her jeans pocket. The area was cool thankfully, even with the large amount of people. Sakura to be on the safe side, wore a green baby tee shirt, jeans,and a pair of pink converse. For once she let her hair completely down, but kept a hair bow in her pocket in case she needed to pull it into a ponytail. People were pushing her lightly to get toward the front of the stage.

Pulling out her phone, she called Ino. The call went straight to the voice mail.

The pink haired girl stomped her foot. Ino could be so frustrating. The one night they were suppose to spend together, enjoying their favorite band, she bails. The entire night wasa waste.She decided she would not let it ruin her evening. Her stomach started to feeling funny, knowing she was going to see _the _Shikamaru Nara on stage in front of her playing drums. A large smile crossed her face. Sure Sasuke, Naruto, Lee, and Itachi were cute, but Shikamaruwas her favorite in the band. Ino crushed on Sasuke, the lead singer, and Tenten loved Lee the bassist. For Sakura however the drummer, Shikamaru was _so _hot.

The lights turned off and the crowd pushed forward. Sakura was moved along with the crowd, her feet barely touching the floor.

'Oh shit, I'm going to fall.' She thought. The mass of people finally stopped. Sakura frowned. At five feet three inches, there was no way Sakura would ever be able to see past the huge guy in front of her. Sakura scooted past the guy and stood on her tip toes. Nothing. Screaming in frustration, Sakura tried again to push forward. The guitar was loud, andGaara,the lead singer, was blasting the chorus. A frown crossed her face as she looked at all the girls sitting on their guys shoulders. There would be no way for Sakura to see Shikamaru when his band took the stage later.

Finally she gave up trying to move forward. She listened to the band, that she couldn't see. She sang along with the lyrics. After three songs, she felt the crowd shift. The pushing and pulling began. A portion of the crowd had begun slam dancing. With her small body Sakura knew she shouldn't get involved in that activity. Like a small fish, she tried to push her way against the crowd. Unfortunately, she wasn't winning. She grabbed on to the huge guy standing on the outside of the slam dancing crowd, and pulled herself away.

'That was too close.' She thought. The band began to play one of Sakura's favorite songs. She jumped and down to try and see the stage. Suddenly a pair of hands gripped her waist lifting her up in the air. She frantically reached to see who was holding her. Looking down to her left she saw Inuzuka Kiba grinning up at her.

'If that's Kiba, then this must be,' Sakura thought and she looked at the head that was now in between her legs, as she was gently placed on the shoulders of, 'Shino?'

A blush crossed Sakura's face, but thankfully the arena was dark. Kiba began jumping up and down to the beat of the music. The rhythm took over Sakura also. She screamed the lyrics to the song. The song ended and the band thanked the audience.Kankuro, the guitarist,said the headliners would be on shortly.

'Shika! Shika, will be here soon.' Her heart jumped.

Shino grabbed her waist once more and pulled her down.

"I gotta go take a piss, I'll be right back." Kiba said to Shino. Shino merely nodded.

"Thank you." Sakura said. She shuffled her foot left to right as she looked down. Her hands were stuffed in her pockets.

"I tried to get to you before you ended up in that group of guys slam dancing, but you managed to keep yourself out of there." Shino looked around at the crowd. "Your friend ditched you huh?"

"Yeah, I guess she did, but I love Leaf. They are _the_ best band ever." Sakura was surprised she was able to get out that much to Shino.

"I would agree with you on that. Why didn't you speak to us earlier, I know you saw us."

"Well." Sakura could not think of an excuse. The crowd was moving back and forth, while the stage was being set up for Leaf.

"You don't even talk to me in school."

"Well, it's just you have your friends around."

"And?"

"No, I wasn't sure you'd be interested in talking to me."

"Why not, are you boring? I didn't think anyone who's read the Vampire Chronicles could be boring."

Sakura blushed more than ever. "You noticed that?"

"Yeah, although you finished the series before I did. It took a lot of will power not to ask you how it ended."

Sakura began to shuffle her feet.

"I've wanted to talk to you for awhile now, but..."

At that moment Kiba bounced up and grabbed Shino by the shoulders.

"Ok lovebirds, we've got about five minutes before the main show. Let's move." Kiba began to push through the crowd. Shino and Sakura followed the hole Kiba was making in the fans. The lights went down, and the crowd pushed forward once more. Sakura felt a hand grabbing her's tightly. Shino pulled her forward and got her a perfect view of the stage. She screamed Shika's name over and over, and danced with the crowd. She smiled thankfully to Shino for getting her so close.

Sakura dialed Tenten's and held the phone so she could hear the concert.

The band played two slow songs, and she felt a hand slip inside hers. Shino was holding her hand. Sakura could have sworn she saw him blush just a little, and she wondered if he could see the heat that was taking over her face. He moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned her back into his chest. Through both songs he held her close, and as the last song ended, she could feel a small kiss placed on the top of her head.

Sakura inwardly thanked Ino for bailing on her.

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There are never enough ShinoxSakura stories out there. Write some people!!! 

readnreview if you want to.

terri.


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